1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a windshield mounting assembly which releases the windshield when it is struck with a predetermined force and, more particularly, to such an assembly in which the windshield is either hingedly mounted or breakaway mounted to a vehicle.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Riders of vehicles with windshields have been injured when thrown against the windshields upon an abrupt stop of the vehicle, as in an accident. To minimize such injury, windshield assemblies have been proposed in which the windshield is held in an upright, operative position by means which allow the windshield to move forwardly upon receiving an impact force from behind of sufficient magnitude.
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,352,727 issued July 4, 1944 to McMahon, an automobile windshield is yieldably held against a seat along the periphery of a windshield opening by four spring-biased rollers overlying the front surface of the windshield. Upon impact, the rollers are caused to pivotally spring away from the windshield which is thereby allowed to fly forwardly and completely separate from the automobile.
In British Pat. No. 221,326 issued Sept. 11, 1924 to Auster Limited, a windshield is pivotally mounted to the handlebars of a motorcycle by hinges which hold the windshield in an upright operative position by spring pressure or the like until the spring pressure is overcome by impact force against the rear of the windshield. The spring pressure force must also be relied on to prevent the windshield from pivoting backward and striking the rider in the event of an impact force applied to the front of the windshield.
A windshield assembly is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,819,226 of Sykora, issued June 25, 1974 to The Coleman Company, Inc., in which a windshield is secured to the body of a snowmobile by a plurality of lugs selectively weakened to permit the windshield to break away from the snowmobile upon impact. As in the assembly of McMahon, the entire windshield is permitted to separate from the vehicle.
A windshield assembly which overcomes problems associated with complete separation of the windshield from the vehicle upon impact, but does so at the expense of complication, is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,081,127 issued March 12, 1963 to Orowan. There, a rigid windshield is pivotally mounted along the bottom edge thereof to an automobile adjacent the windshield opening and resiliently held against a seat at the top edge of the opening by a coil spring member secured to the top of the automobile.